Substantially cheaper, but almost as good?! – Alphacool Core 1 LT Aurora Acryl tested on Intel and AMD including teardown | Review

1 - Intro and unboxing 2 - Quality impression and assembly experience 3 - Test setup and TIM impressions 4 - Teardown and comparison Core 1 LT with Core 1 5 - Performance Intel LGA1700 – 13900KF 6 - Performance AMD AM5 – 7950X 7 - Summary and conclusion

We have already tested the Alphacool Core 1 in the past and confirmed it as a very good water block in the high-end segment. Now Alphacool has followed up with the Core 1 LT and, as the name suggests, it is a cheaper “light” version. In today’s test, we will find out to what extent LT also means worse.

I recommend that you read the previous tests of the Core 1 and various competitor products, as the test methods, settings and systems are explained in detail there. For those of you who are already familiar with them, here are just a few brief refreshers.

Unboxing

The packaging and scope of delivery are virtually identical to the normal Core 1, with only a sticker on the back of the box revealing the slightly different contents.

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In addition to the block itself, the scope of delivery includes the corresponding mounting kits for AM4/AM5 and LGA1700. There is also a 1g tube of Alphacool Apex thermal compound, an RGB JST to digital adapter and a quick start guide.

The construction is also fundamentally identical to its big, older brother, with 6 H2.0 hexagon socket screws holding the block together from below. However, these do not grip into an aluminum part, but into the transparent acrylic element, on which only an aluminum frame is placed. The RGB cable is fixed, by the way.

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For assembly, the matching socket brackets are again inserted into the groove of the acrylic element and screwed to the backplate using standoffs. The brackets fit snugly and remain in position during assembly, unlike my Core 1 from a faulty batch.

For Intel LGA1700, the core backplate made of 3mm thick steel is again included, which is designed to prevent the CPU, socket and mainboard from flexing. The standoffs are screwed into it with M3 threads on both sides. The block is then placed on top and screwed on “hard” with the knurled nuts. There is effectively no room for assembly errors or excessive torque.

With AM5, the integrated backplate of the motherboard is used again and the standoffs with UNC 6/32 thread on one side – recognizable by the slots on the side – must be used accordingly. The block is then placed on again and screwed to the other side of the standoffs using the M3 knurled nuts. So far so good.